The 23-year-old Wales international, who scored 13 goals during the first half of the season, has not played since picking up a thigh injury during a 3-1 Premier League win against West Ham on Boxing Day.

He was expected to be fit to return to action in the crucial game against Manchester City on Saturday, when Arsenal will hope to bounce back from disappointing results against Chelsea and Swansea.

“Compared to Tuesday night, we have no new injuries and no-one coming back as well,” said Wenger, who is already without Jack Wilshere and club-record signing Mesut Ozil.

“[Nacho] Monreal should be the first one back in training because he is just starting to run in the next few days. After him, Ramsey is progressing well, but we need to be patient for a few more weeks.”

Despite having key men unavailable for the visit of title challengers City, Wenger is focused on recovering some pride after a tough week.

He said: “We have to do that [restore belief] as well as we can and accept our position at the end of the season, but at the moment [our focus] is to recover from a high disappointment and recover for the next game. It is a huge game.”